Video settings

Asylum seeker tow-back scheme in action

The first vision of Australia's asylum boat tow-back scheme is shown on ABC's 7.30 program, after an Iranian refugee filmed his trip being dragged back to Indonesia in a small orange vessel. Warning: strong language.

The program featured an Iranian asylum seeker, Arash Sedigh, who threatened to kill navy officers if they did not provide medical attention to a pregnant woman and other passengers on board a boat smugglers’ small wooden vessel in Australian waters.

In his anger, he also swore at the officers saying ‘‘F--- Australia’’ and said they should ‘‘know the cause’’ of the 9/11 attacks in the US.

A man walks near a lifeboat in Central Java which used by Australia to send asylum seekers back to Indonesia. Photo: AP

''I think Australians watching that program last night would be very thankful that the Australian government has a very strong policy on our borders to ensure that people don’t get to illegally arrive in Australia with that kind of air of entitlement or expectation and demand,'' Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.

Advertisement

''Last night’s program demonstrated that people will still try it on, but they will find a government whose resolve is absolute.''

Mr Morrison said the turn back policy had become ''enormously effective''.

But Labor’s spokesman for immigration, Richard Marles, said it shouldn’t be up to the ABC to show what the government is doing.

''The government needs to start being transparent about what it’s actually doing on the high seas,'' he told ABC radio.

''It shouldn’t be up to the 7.30 Report to be seeing vision of that for the Australian people to discover what our services are doing in relation to this policy.

''It should simply be a matter of this Government making plain what it is actually doing out on the high seas and that’s what we would ask them to do.''

In the report by the ABC's, asylum seekers filmed their harrowing journey aboard an orange lifeboat provided by the Australia government as they were towed back for a second time to Indonesia.

''We will die in this orange boat. It's not suitable for passing the ocean,'' Mr Sedigh said he told the Australian officials, as he was allegedly forced onto the small orange vessel.

To which the officials allegedly replied: ''That's not our problem. That's yours. If you die in the Indonesia water, makes Indonesian government in trouble and responsible. That's not our problem.''

It was the second time Mr Sedigh had tried to reach Australia when he and his wife, Azi, boarded the people smuggler’s wooden boat on January 27 with 34 others – including a pregnant woman and a one-year-old child.

''When we arrive and Customs come inside our wooden boat, I just ask them 'Please, please, help us. Would you please take us in a safe place? They just shouted at me, 'Shut up! Shut up! Sit down!' '', Mr Sedigh told the ABC.

''They pushed us. They punched us. We were just asking for our rights.''

After Mr Sedigh asked for a doctor to treat the pregnant woman on board the wooden boat, and was allegedly denied by Australian officials, he became increasingly angry.

''I told them, I will kill you if you don't take us with that ship. I have nothing to lose. I will kill you. Believe me. For Jesus Christ please help us. Would you please help us?''

Responding to the program, the Immigration Department said there were ''clear guidelines to govern the use of force''.

''Central to these guidelines is to ensure that operations are conducted safely for both our own officers and persons who are the subject of these operations,'' a spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said.

''For the past 88 days there has not been a single successful maritime people smuggling venture to Australia.''

Even so, Mr Sedigh says people smugglers are still trying to encourage him and his wife to try again.

''They are trying to send us again they say us: 'if you want we can send you again several times but you cannot get back give back your money','' he told the ABC.

During the boat trip capture on video, Mr Sedigh provided a running commentary to the journey.

''This put us in this f---ing orange boat and sent us back to Indonesia and the navy was escorting that ship until today," he said. ''F--- Australia.

''I said to them ’you are criminals’. If later on you said ‘why did they do that to America on September 11?’ you should know the cause of it, is you very deeds.

''They should remember 9/11 for the United States.''

This is not the first time asylum seekers have described their vomitous and terrifying experience aboard the orange life boats, which are the government’s latest weapon against people smuggling.

Earlier this month, asylum seekers told Fairfax Media of their forced trip inside the lifeboat back to Indonesia.

''No light. Very hot. When the driver opens the door, the water comes inside. We’re sick. Everybody sick; there was no air,'' he said. He is now in temporary detention in an old office building in Cilacap, Central Java.

The lifeboats are small and inside they feel smaller. They are dark and airless with only a couple of small, high windows.

Mr Sedigh told the ABC he would not attempt the journey again.

''No, I have two times bad experiences about this trip, I don’t want to make my wife in trouble again. I want her for living together, I don’t want to make her die.''